Empowered Boy

Ch. 4 Enter the Anti-Heroes

Perry was looking at a list on a piece of paper.  He had two columns as he had them identified.  ‘Comic Book Characters’ and ‘Powers’ were above the right and left column respectively.    Under the comic book characters side were the following characters: The Professor, Here & There and Kid Dillon.  He knew that he had The Professor’s powers of history absorption because he could absorb the history of a bow or car door.  Then he could use the item to it’s fullest potential as well as know where it came from exactly.  The Professor was a comic book character that went around the universe absorbing knowledge and fighting with various weapons and magics to fend people from doom.  One of Perry’s favorite comics.

Here & There was another comic book that he read that was about two sisters that could see some place in their mind and the other could teleport them there.  That’s how they got from one place to another to fight crime in their comic book. 

The last comic book character was Kid Dillon a comic book character from a comic that was made by his cousin.  She wanted to make a comic book company called One-Shot comics where she would make several one-shot comic books.  The powers listed for that character were Attention Empowerment and Burning Hands.  He got the design of his costume from the comic book that was the only issue ever printed. 

Perry then complicated aloud, “I’ve noticed that if I get jealous of a comic book character, I gain their powers.  My archery comes from the bow itself.  I guess this is why some people say that Ables just use magic.  I can’t figure out this for the life of me.  So far scientists still can’t figure out if Ables use magic, alien natural abilities, if it’s a genetic mutation or if they are just divinely gifted.  All scientists know is if you have pure human parents then the child will always be a pure human, no Able abilities.  If I had an Able parent then there would be a 50/50 chance of being an Able.  I mean with biology it makes sense how who can be an Able and who can’t.  I mean there is no answer in physics that explains how I gain powers from comic book characters that I’m jealous of.”

Perry then decided to place the piece of paper in after crumbling it into the trash can.  Perry stood up from his bed as he exited his room.  He grabbed his backpack as he walked over to his bow and touched it.  The bow turned to ash and went up his brown suit jacket.  His current clothing suggested he was going to some place important, being dressed in a suit.  The suit was a dark brown jacket with pants, having a green tie.  The tie matched his fedora with a brown belt on it.  His undershirt was a lighter shade of green to not take too much away from the tie. 

He walked out the door as he went down the stairs after closing the door.  He got to the main floor as he exited the back door.  He walked out to the small yard and walked out the gate to the parking lot.  He began walking the sidewalk as he got down the dog park and went into the brush of trees by the dog park.  He focused as he looked at the business card that had his handler’s name, Kari Perkins of Heroes Affairs.

Perry appeared in front of a large brick building that had multiple floors.  He walked through the two doors as he walked to one of the available windows.  Perry then gave his name to the young man with gauges in his ear lobes that had a kanji tattoo under his right eye.  Perry was told to wait for about 10 minutes for Ms. Perkins.

Perry sat down in a chair as he sighed and saw a few chairs from him a young man.  The young man wore an orange shirt with white shoulders.  He was tanned with green eyes having a head of black hair that brushed back.  His shorts were white with an orange utility belt.  He wore a pair of running cleats that seemed to have some form of metal on the side near the front.  On his wrist was an orange wrist watch with a speaker.

Perry then asked the man that was near his age, “Hey, are you the Heat?”

The guy smiled as he extended his hand to Perry introducing himself, “Nice to have a fan, names Ricardo Perez.”

Perry smiled as he shook hands with him replying to him, “Name’s Empowered Boy.”

Ricardo then grinned as he replied, “Ah, so you are new to this eh?  Worried about the paparazzi finding out where you live?  Well that’s to be expected, I mean heroing may be a job for just you and me.  But, we are all celebrities to somebody and the paparazzi will find you eventually.”

Perry nodded as he replied to the hero, “So, out of curiosity, are you an Able?”

Ricardo gave Perry a look as he replied to him, “I have just as much a right to be a hero as any normal or scino.”

Shaking his head Perry replied to him, “Oh, no, no I didn’t mean to sound like a bigot.  I was just wondering how you, the Heat, could reach high speeds without being an Able if you weren’t.”

Smiling Ricardo then replied to the curious newbie, “Oh, well that’s a different story.  Yeah I am an Able, I’m a runner.  I developed by own drug to reduce my lactic acid build up allowing me to run faster and longer.  So, what are your talents or powers?”

Perry replied to the man, “I am a Bestowed, with power replication.”

Surprise was visible on Ricardo’s face as he asked him, “Wait, so how much of a cut do you have to give to your bestower?”

Perry replied to him with a shrug, “Uh, well I don’t hero for money.  And honestly, I haven’t seen the bestower for a couple of weeks.”

An emotion of fear and worry came to Ricardo’s face as he replied to him, “You don’t know your bestower’s identity?  Dude your powers are limited you know that right?  I mean bestowed normals don’t keep their powers for long.  Not unless you met a One Efficient, I mean I’m a Seven Efficient which means I’m close to the bottom of the totem poll.  Ten Efficients are barely above Normals.  I mean if you were bestowed by a 10 Efficient the longest you could have your powers would be like an hour tops.  I mean if I were a bestower and gave you powers, then you’d have them for like I don’t know maybe two weeks?  You need to get a scanner to see how long you’ll have these powers bro.  Otherwise you won’t be heroing for long.”

Perry was slightly scared now as he replied trying to cover it, “Don’t worry, I’ll be alright.”

Nodding Ricardo replied to him with a shrug, “It’s your life bro.”

A woman came out of the door with an A on it.  The thing that caught Perry by surprise was that she wasn’t a human.  He knew of aliens on Earth, but he hadn’t met one before.  This alien was known to him thanks to studying in school.  A Ugarian, a pink humaniod having hooves tap on the floor as she walked.  She wore a green near floor length skirt with her green suit jacket.  The suit jacket had the back missing making the suit jacket stay on by the neck and shoulders that linked to the sleeves.  On her back were the typical Ugarian’s pink wings with unique colored features, this particular Ugarian had purple and green feathers.  Her horns on her forehead were short and thick pointing up.  Her hair was short was dyed brown held in a short pony tail with a bang in front of her right eye.  Her left eye was exposed to show the pupil and iris absent eye of blue.  Her nose was slim and narrow in the bridge.  Her thick plump lips were painted with blue lipstick matching her eyes.  The woman had a small bosom compared to human standards, but for an Ugarian her shape was developed correctly for her ability of flight.

She smiled as she called Perry, “Empowered Boy?”

Perry stood up as he walked to her and stood in front of her.  She then said to him as she moved her hand to the doorway, “If you’ll follow me please.”

At Outlaw Field an airport of Clarksville Tennessee

A Harbin Y-12 plane opened it’s door as a man brought to the plane door a set of stairs.  A person walked out with another behind them as they both stood side by side at the top of the stairs. One woman and a man got off with a black man behind them.  The woman and man wore black suits with white undershirts.  Their ties were dark green with a red circle visible.  In the red circle was a dark green helmet icon.  They both wore square lense shades with ear wigs.  Unlike the man who had a bald head, the woman had short black hair in a ponytail.

The black man wore a green suit with a red undershirt and a dark green tie.  His eyes were brown with a pair of glasses being wore.  His hair was short black and curly.  The man had a mustache that was parted in the middle where it was shaved.  The man walked with the pair of guards that were holding guns.

The three got to the pavement as a woman had a cart full of bags and suitcases.  The man that was being guarded saw a limo pull up.  The limo door opened as a white man with gray hair stepped out.  His hair was combed to the right wearing a pair of glasses in front of his blue eyes.  He said to the man, “Master Dejen, the young ones are waiting for your arrival.”

Dejen nodded as he got inside the limo with the two guards getting inside after him.  The butler got inside after them as he closed the door.  The limo began to drive after the bags were put into the trunk. 

The limo drove to a warehouse in the industrial park.  The limo door opened as the butler exited with the two guards.  From the door came a new man in the place of Dejen.  He was a same height man wearing a dark green suit that went seemed to be a one piece outfit.  A red circle was on his chest with a dark green helmet icon in the middle.  The man wore a full green metal Corinthian helmet that showed his brown eyes.  A red cape was worn by the man who also wore a right red gauntlet. 

The doors were opened as people bowed to him as he walked inside.  The man looked at them as he said to them, “You may relax.”

The man then listened as the three said to him in unison, “Yes, Master Villain Hunter.”

Villain Hunter then replied to the three, “Step forward and introduce yourselves.”

A girl with the left side of her scalp shave down and the other half full blonde hair.  She has two diamond studs in her left brow.  She had a pair of video camera lenses where her eyes should have been.  The girl was a short girl at about 4 and a half feet tall.  She wasn’t ft, but she wasn’t skinny either.  Her bosom was rather large and covered by a black bra.  She wore a black tank top that was see through.  She wore a black leather skirt with ruffles.  The belt she wore was white with a gold circle belt buckle that had an icon of a club. 

The girl said to the master, “My name is Battle Gal, master of weapons and technologies beyond some human’s understanding.”

A second girl stepped out of the darkness and into the single light suspended in front of them.  She had tanned skin with black hair that was extremely short.  Each strand of hair was only two or three inches longs.  The girl’s eyes were a unique gold iris that seemed to have a glow about them.  The clothes the girl were was a short sleeve gold and silver shirt with the left half silver and the right half gold.  A gold necklace was adorned around her neck with a small rectangle was visible that was made of silver that had imprinted on it ‘BITCH’.  The girl’s silver shorts were a  pair of knee long and seemed like gym shorts.  The final feature on the girl were a pair of gold sandal boots.

The second girl said to the master, “My name is Beating, a guide of victory and guardian of humanity.”

The final member of the three stepped forward revealing themself to be a boy. The boy was a lot younger than the two girls.  He looked to be just exiting his preteens and a young teenager.  His skin looked like that of the void that’s called ‘Space’.  White shines dots appeared under his red solar orb like eyes that were like freckles on a face.  He was bald and stood with a defined muscle set.  His green shirt with white midriff and lower sleeves was made of some padded armor.  The boy wore a long pair of padded armor pants that were white. 

The boy said to the master with a some what hollow voice, “Master, my name is After Dusk, a keeper of the night sky and representation of the Earth’s perspective of space.”

Villain hunter nodded as he replied to the three, “According to my instructors stationed here in the South of the United States.  You are the most successful candidates to be awarded with the next level in the league.”

The three students smiled at this news as they then cleaned their faces of such smiles listening to the next words of the master.  The master continued saying to the children, “Tomorrow night, you will join me on a hunt of various villains in this city of Clarksville.  We will hunt three villains of your choice.  We will wipe them from this earth and stand in the way of any heroes that stand in our way.  This hunt will act as both a test and a person favor from the master.”

The three nodded at Villain Hunter’s words as they then heard him dismiss them, “I’m going to need to practice now.  If you would get yourselves something to eat, that would be nice.  For the League of Anti-Heroes!”

The three students mimicked his words, “For the League of Anti-Heroes!”

At the Department of Heroes Affairs

Ms. Perkins sat in a open back chair that only had a back for the small of her back.  She asked Perry as she looked at him, “Alright, Mr. Turner, I have read that in the papers that Tennessee Thunder mentioned a fellow hero.  And there is already an internet video of you in action.  Refusing to take money.  Why didn’t you charge for your services?”

Perry then explained to her, “I know that what I’m doing is considered a controversy.  But, I plan on not forcing someone to pay me any money for my services.  If people are in danger and I can do something to stop it.  Then I will stop it, to the best of my abilities.  I mean how can you equate a life saved into monetary value?”

Ms. Perkins reasoned with him, “Hospitals do it all the time charging patients for thousands of dollars just to fix a broken rib.  Insurance companies are also guilty of it.  Now, other than the fact that what you are doing is very noble I must tell you that you will be fined if you don’t pay taxes for your heroic income.  If you don’t have enough money from heroing.  The typical freelance heroing in this state is $450 dollars per event.  Now, that is the suggested starting that way you can pay a portion of it to keep your heroes license.  The reason why we tax heroes for their services is to cover the costs of damages possibly caused and to help cover accidental injuries or deaths.  Now, I can give you a suggestion.  How about working for a corporation or being sponsored by multiple businesses?  They’ll cover the $450 per event and also provide you with protection plans.”

Perry sighed as he told her, “Listen, I don’t know exactly how just yet.  But, I want to help people without being told not to help people. I mean what would happen if Tennessee Thunder decided to help out a person at Bullseye instead of Law-mart?”

Ms. Perkins replied to the young hero, “He would most likely be given a two week notice for helping out a rival super store corporation.”

Perry told her as she solved his question, “Exactly, if I were fired for helping someone.  Many corporations wouldn’t hire me for the same reason why I got fired.  And sponsored heroes are required to get cuts from businesses.  And those businesses want to be put first.  And if they don’t, then they will stop sponsoring me.  I don’t want any restrictions.  I’m going to every time I am able as long as I’m drawing breath, drop whatever I’m doing and go help.  It’s what a true hero does.”

Ms. Perkins told him, “That’s in the world of comic books and you know it.  Sense the first hero Bellerophon took money for saving a village from a swamp monster.  If you don’t make any money from this then you can be put on probation or worse have your license revoked.  I mean what you are essentially talking about is vigilantism and that’s illegal.”

Perry then came up with the idea that would fix everything, “What if I open a donation?  Where people can go to a website and donate to me.  That way I can be making money and still help out anyone that I choose.”

Ms. Perkins then said defeatedly with a sigh, “I guess that would work, but you wouldn’t get much money.  I mean people aren’t as giving as you believe.”

Perry replied to the woman confidently, “I believe that people are sick and tired of extortion from people that are called ‘heroes’.  When in reality most of them are glorified protected mobsters.  I don’t want to give the people that image.  I want to earn their trust.”

Shaking her head Ms. Perkins replied as she began working on her computer, “It’s your choice, I’ll make your website for you.  And I’ll see you in two weeks time.”

Perry nodded as he stood up and walked out of her cubicle.  He began walking to the exit door.  He walked out as he went into the parking lot and vanished in a green light.